There appears to be a great emphasis on unity in the early church as found in the New Testament. We see some clear pictures of this in several passages. I invite you to look up some of the references, due to lack of space to reproduce them all in this short space. Acts 2:42-47 gives us a clear picture of how the early church functioned…

· They were fellowshipping, learning, communing and praying together

· Selling their possessions and giving to those in need

· Meeting in each other’s homes and sharing meals

· Praising God and enjoying one another…

...and through it all, the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Paul used the illustration of the human body to depict the concept of unity in the church in his letter to the church at Corinth. Found in 1 Corinthians 12:12-31…

· For the body does not consist of one member, but of many (vs. 14)

· He says there are many parts, and yet one body (vs. 20)

· If one member suffers, we all suffer together (vs. 26)

· If one member is honored, we all rejoice together (vs. 26)

· Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it (vs. 27)

No one part of the body can say to the other that they are not needed. This would be a foolish statement for anyone in Christ’s church to say to another. God has put us together to worship Him, serve Him, point others to Him… Why? Because it’s all about Him. All that we think, say and do, should result in glory being given to God and not to any one member of the body. For Christ is the Head of the church (Ephesians 1:22-23)

Paul also made this point clear in his letter to the church at Rome. In Romans 12:3-8...

· Be humble in your thinking about yourself and each other (vs. 3)

· The human body has many parts, but they do not all have the same function (vs. 4-5)

· God has granted each of us with different gifts that we are to use for His glory. Not all of us have the same gift(s), but whatever gift(s) we have, we must use them. (vs. 6-8)

We must not waste the gift(s) God has given to us. They were given to be used. Also, we must not sit and compare ourselves to one another thinking or saying “I wish I had ‘their’ gift.” Together, we all do our part so that the Head (Jesus), is lifted up.One final thought… did you know that Jesus prayed for you and I? Really, He did! He prayed specifically that we would be “brought to complete unity”, so that the rest of the world will know that God the Father has sent His Son into the world and that He loved them all. Read John 17:20-26 to see the fullness of this truth. Our being united has a much bigger purpose than our being able to just get along… Unity in the church shows the love of God to others. Remember that passage above from Acts 2… “day by day” people were being saved.

I pray we will be encouraged to honestly examine our attitudes and actions in regards to how we look at one another and model the kind of love Jesus commanded for his followers in the Gospel of John. Read these verses and allow God to begin to cleanse your heart and mind as we seek to follow Him faithfully.

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)

We are off to a good beginning in 2009. I am excited about the vision and direction in which the Lord is leading us to go. With our theme: Each One, Reach One... our desire is to reach out to those who are outside of the church and outside of a relationship with Jesus Christ.

My prayer is that we who are on the inside will heed the call that our Lord has given us and strive to "make disciples" of all the nations. In Jesus' day, disciples were those who followed their teacher with the goal of knowing what the teachers knows, but also becoming like the teacher in character and attitude. It wasn't just about knowledge, but likeness.

When it comes to "all nations", the Greek term is "ethnos". This is where we get our english term: ethnic. Bottom line, people who are different from ourselves. That may mean someone of different color, language, social status, religious beliefs, and so forth. Even for me, who loves the Iowa Hawkeyes... I need to reach out to ISU fans as well. (An attempt at humor)

Let all of us who are on the inside, begin to remember, according to the Scripture, that we once lived outside ourselves. Someone, somewhere, at sometime took the time to share with us their story and how Jesus played an integral role. May we not hold onto the knowledge we have, but be willing to spread it around with those we come into contact with. May we be willing to surrender our wills, opinions, schedules and comfortability in order that we may see the opportunities that God is laying before us to share the goodness of who He is.

Pastor Warren

Been married to my beautiful wife 18 years, and God has blessed us with the gift of 3 wonderful boys. We have ministered in Georgia, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and now Iowa. God continues to demonstrate His goodness everyday.